1996 WSOP Champion Huckleberry Seed is also in the mix today.
One of my favorite Huckleberry Seed stories is how he had to jump out of a cab speeding at 50 mph. Phil Hellmuth claims to dodge bullets, but Seed can jump out of speeding cars.
Janet Jones, best known as an actress, dancer, and hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky's wife, is playing today. After getting into the movie business by dancing in film musicals such as "Annie" and "Staying Alive" her big break came when she starred in 1984's "The Flamingo Kid." Jones and Gretzky married in 1988 and have four children together.
Dressed in a tight white tee, light-wash jeans and carrying an enormous quilted silver lame purse, Jones looks relaxed and focused in her seat at Table 157, her opponents likely oblivious to her fame and notoriety.
The entire room is full, aside from 3 empty tables. There are about 10 cash games running, but the rest of the tables are all for the big dance. You can literally feel the tension starting to ease as players start to find their rhythm.
Although T.J. Cloutier does not play until Sunday, he's been walking through the crowd saying hello to his friends. He walked over to Mike Sexton and said, "Good luck, kid!"
Terrence Chan, who finished runner-up to Hoyt Corkins in the $2,500 No-Limit Shootout event, is reading a book during play today. The book he's reading is titled "Fooled By Randomness: The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and the Markets" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Which seems an especially apt choice considering the circumstances. It's available for $10.17 at Amazon, if you're interested.
On a board of Chris Reslock checked under the gun, the player on the button pushed all-in for 8,300 and Reslock called. Reslock was on a diamond draw with against for two pair. But there was no diamond for Reslock when the came. Reslock will have to wait another year for his chance at the World Champion gold bracelet.
Dewey Tomko is seated next to Alex Jacob. Tomko has been slugging it out with the big boys before Jacob was even born in 1984. Tomko took second place in the 1982 WSOP Main Event after losing heads up to Jack Straus.
We just mentioned that Terrence Chan is reading a book called "Fooled By Randomness," and a bit of randomness might've just cost him a big chunk of his stack. After seeing a flop Chan bet 600 and the player in the big blind called. The fell on the turn and when Chan bet 1,200 the big blind check-raised to 5K. Chan called, and then both players checked the on the river. The big blind showed for two pair and Chan mucked his cards.
Janet Jones lost a big pot with . On a board of , she bet 1K and her opponent raised to 4K. She called with nothing while her opponent flipped over K-Q for trip Kings. She lost 5,400 on that hand and is down to 14K.